The Three Emperors League was a defensive alliance formed in 1872 between the German Empire, Russian Empire, and Austro-Hungarian Empire to maintain the status quo in the Balkans and isolate France diplomatically. It was an important part of Bismarck's system of alliances that helped unify Germany but also contributed to rising tensions after it dissolved. By rejecting treaty renewal in the 1890s, Germany lost leverage over Austria and increased Russian insecurity, sowing seeds for future conflicts.

1. Three Emperors League

2. Realpolitik
foreign policy based on calculations of power and
the national interest-brought about the
unification of Germany. And the unification of
Germany caused Realpolitik to turn on itself.
After its unification, Germany became the
strongest country on the Continent, and was
growing stronger with every decade, thereby
revolutionizing European diplomacy.
According to all the traditions of Realpolitik,
European coalitions were likely to arise to
contain Germany's growing, potentially
dominant, power.

3. Germany was between the 3 Huge
superpowers:
Russia – Becoming Stronger
France – Defeated but still strong
Austria – Austrians supported the idea of
becoming the part of Germany but
Bismarck did not

4. 1872 – was the bases of formation of
Three Emperors League
Julius Andrássy, Otto von Bismarck, and
Prince Alexander Gorchakov.
In June, 1873 Austria and Russia signed
treaty to help each other in case of need.
In October Germany joined the alliance
but they did not mention Balkan
territories.

5. Balkan Crisis
In July, 1873, Herzegovina together
with Bosnia rebelled against Ottoman
Empire;
Serbians Supported This rebellion; Why?
Bosnia Herzegovina declared unification
with Slavs;
Russians?
Panslavist?

6. Three Emperors League decided the conflict by
consultation; Everyone agreed that the case should be
decided by 3 states: Which states?
Soon Other states also joined the League just to decide
the crisis?
Which one?

7. May 7, German and French consuls
were assassinated in Ottoman Empire
so The decisions had to be taken.
Gorchakov Proposed a meeting of
Austria, Russia and Germany

8. Berlin Congress
May 13, 1976 was issued Berlin
Memorandum It was a set of reforms
against Ottoman Empire; If this Reforms did
not work then The league was obliged to
take “Effective Steps”
Benjamin Disraeli?
What about his political position?

9. In 1876, June 30, Serbia and Montenegro also rebelled against
Ottoman Empire; Russia was helping Serbia by financial means and
volunteers;
In July Russian and Austrian Emperors met in Reichstag; They just
negotiated the following:
-Not to interfere in Conflict
-If Ottoman Empire won Status quo (before the war) would be restored;
-If Ottoman Empire was defeated The league would not allow formation
of Slav nation states in Balkans;
-Russia should return Bessarabia
-Austria-Hungary should gain Bosnia and Herzegovina;

10. In April, 1876 Bulgarians rebelled against
Ottomans; Turkey responded with appalling
brutality; Russians exaggerated the case and the
newspapers in England covered the news of
Bulgarians;
Disraeli could not go against his people’s opinion;
He called for Turkey to stop brutality;
He declared the status quo (before the rebellion) of
Serbia
What about Bismarck’s political position?

11. Disraeli encouraged the Ottoman Turks to reject the Berlin
Memorandum and to continue their depredations in the
Balkans. Despite this show of British firmness, Disraeli
was under severe domestic pressure. The Turks'
atrocities had turned British public opinion against
them. Disraeli felt obliged to accede to the London
Protocol of 1877, in which he joined the three Northern
courts in calling on Turkey to end the slaughter in the
Balkans and to reform its administration in the region.
The Sultan, however, convinced that Disraeli was on
his side no matter what formal demands were made,
rejected even this document. Russia's response was a
declaration of war.

12. Whenever the conflict in Ottoman Empire
was on the top Russians found the right
moment to start the war against ottomans
and gain Territories;
They needed Austria’s Neutrality;
Who could guarantee Austrian’s Neutrality?
His respond?

13. Finally Russia started secret negotiations
with Austrians and agreed on Reichstag
articles:
Bosnia – Austrians;
Not to allow formation of Slavic nation states
Russia gained Bessarabia
In 1877, January 15 the alliance was signed;

14. Six European stated again warned Ottoman
Empire to stop suppression;
In 1877 Russians signed the alliance with
Rumania to use Rumania’s road for battle;
On April 24 Russia and Rumania declared
war on Ottoman Empire;
What about England? (Financial Support)
England also asked Austria for Military
Support;

15. Gorchakov: “Alliances does not have any
strength”
In 1877, December 10, Pleven lost the war;
They asked England for help in Negotiation
but Russians responded:
“Just Ottoman Empire and Russians should
negotiate”
January 31 the alliance was signed but
Russians still continued attacks

16. Led by general and diplomat Nicholas
Ignatyev, Russian troops arrived at the gates
of Constantinople. Disraeli moved British
warships into the Dardanelles; At that point,
Ignatyev shocked all of Europe by announcing
the terms of the Treaty of San Stefano (signed
on 3 March 1878) which would emasculate
Turkey and create a "Big Bulgaria." Extending
to the Mediterranean Sea, it was widely
assumed, would be dominated by Russia

17. Ignatyev's Treaty of San Stefano raised the
possibilities of Russian control of the Straits,
which was intolerable to Great Britain, and
Russian control of the Balkan Slavs, which
was intolerable to Austria. Both Great Britain
and Austria-Hungary, therefore, declared that
the Treaty was unacceptable. It increasingly
appeared that the Balkans would become the
fuse to set off a general European war;
Bismarck reluctantly organized a congress in
Berlin, the only capital to which the Russian
leaders were willing to come.

18. The Congress was scheduled to assemble on June 13,
1878. Before it met Great Britain and Russia had already
settled the key issues in an agreement signed on May
30. The "Big Bulgaria" was replaced by three new
entities: a much-reduced, independent state of Bulgaria;
the state of Eastern Rumelia, an autonomous entity that
was technically under a Turkish governor but whose
administration would be overseen by a European
Commission; the rest of Bulgaria – Macedonia-reverted
to Turkish rule. Great Britain promised Austria that it
would support Austria's occupation of Bosnia-
Herzegovina, and assured the Sultan that it would
guarantee Asiatic Turkey. In return, the Turkey gave
England the use of Cyprus as a naval base. The main
function of the Congress was to give Europe's blessing
to what had already been negotiated.

19. Rumelia

20. On 18 June, 1881 – Second Three
Emperor’s League –Neutrality except the
conflict with Austria and Russia
In 1881, The alliance between Austria and
Serbia was signed.

21. Italy was angry about territorial division from
the Berlin Congress; Italy had claims over
Tunis but Tunis was granted to France; It
encouraged the alliance between Italy,
Austria and Germany – signed in 1882,
May 20.

22. Alliance – Germany, Austria, Italy:
-Germany and Austria defended Italy from
France;
-Italy defended Germany from France;
-Three of them defended each other in case
of attack;
-They kept neutrality in case any of them
were involved in the battle;
-In Austria-Russian conflict Italy kept
neutrality;

23. In 1883, October, Austria and Germany
signed alliance with Rumania - his action
was against Russia, so Three Emperor’s
League was under threat;
Reason of the alliance:
Rumania was against Russia because
Russia took from them Bessarabia;
Austria was against Russia because of
Balkans;
What about Bismarck?

24. Bulgarians
Bulgarians desired to develop their country;
They wanted to have a economic cooperation
with Austria – to built a railway that connected
Constantinople with Vienna;
•In 1881 Serbia was involved in this project;
•In 1883 Bulgaria was involved in this project;
That was a very bad news for Russia who
planned the same railway development;

25. In 1886 Russia refused to prolong
Three Emperor’s League. Bismarck
knew that, Russia would sooner or
later drift into an alliance with
France. Bismarck now came up
with his last major initiative, the so-
called Reinsurance Treaty.
Germany and Russia promised
each other to stay neutral in a war
with a third country unless Germany
attacked France, or Russia
attacked Austria.

26. William II's first diplomatic move along what turned
into a fated course came in 1890, shortly after he
had dismissed Bismarck, when he rejected the
Tsar's offer to renew the Reinsurance Treaty for
another three-year term. By rejecting Russia's
overture at the very beginning of his rule, the Kaiser
and his advisers pulled the perhaps most important
thread out of the fabric of Bismarck's system of
overlapping alliances. Three considerations
motivated them:
first, they wanted to make their policy as "simple and
transparent" as possible;
second, they wanted to reassure Austria that their
alliance with it was their top priority;
finally, they considered the Reinsurance Treaty an
obstacle to their preferred course of forging an
alliance with Great Britain.

27. Ending the Reinsurance Treaty brought
about exactly the opposite situation:
limiting Germany's options promoted
Austrian adventurism. Abandoning the
Reinsurance Treaty not only caused
Germany to lose leverage vis-a-vis
Austria, it above all increased Russia's
anxieties. Germany's reliance on Austria
was interpreted in St. Petersburg as a new
predisposition to support Austria in the
Balkans.

28. On 18 March, 1890 Bismarck resigned. In
1897, one year before his death he
assumed:
“After 20 years of the death of Frederick the
Great there was a Great war; we are
going to face the same tragedy after 20
years of my death if everything will go on
the way it is going on now”

29. Bismarck sowed the seeds not only of his
country's achievements, but of its twentieth-
century tragedies.
Napoleon's tragedy was that his ambitions
surpassed his capacities; Bismarck's tragedy was
that his capacities exceeded his society's ability to
absorb them. The legacy Napoleon left France
was strategic paralysis; the legacy Bismarck left
Germany was inassimilable greatness.

30. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc76RlWT